You're listening to life kit from NPR.
Hey, everybody, it's Marielle.
I used to think the only way to get something really clean was with bleach.
Then I realized that's not true, but also that bleach was irritating my eyes, and I didn't like the way it smelled.
So I started looking for alternatives, you know, something more natural that maybe didn't involve harsh chemicals or where I didn't have to wear rubber gloves and a mask to clean the bathroom.
And that was a little overwhelming, to be honest, because there are a million articles online about green cleaning, and there are so many products making so many claims in the grocery store cleaning aisle.
What I've learned over time is that green cleaning is not an all or nothing thing.
You can try things out, see if they work, and nobody's going to give you a report card on your performance.
That's also the ethos behind this episode of Life Kit, which first aired last year.
In the episode, reporter Kavitha Cardoza talks to a green cleaning expert about how to clean your home with products that are safer for you and for the environment without feeling like you need to be perfect.
This is NPR's life kit.
I'm Kavita Kadoza.
When Stephanie Morham was pregnant, she could already picture her daughter in the future as a toddler.
Super cute, super curious, and that got her thinking about cleaning products.
Stephanie realized that all the stuff she used to clean stuff in her home would eventually be something that her daughter would touch and, as kids do, put in her mouth.
There has to be a better way to clean our homes and not have to worry about what we are spraying on the floors or on, you know, the glass and the mirrors and not only what we're touching and then putting our hands in our mouth, but also what we're inhaling in our house as well.
Stephanie went down the eco cleaning rabbit hole twelve years ago.
Today, she runs the website Good Girl Gone Green and is host of the podcast Green Junkie, where she talks about all things sustainable.
Stephanie, I think all of us want clean homes, and we'd like to be eco friendly, but it seems a little overwhelming with all the choices and sometimes not knowing even what to look for.
Can you walk us through some of the things we should keep in mind if we want to start going green?